A high-efficiency charging notebook computer and a high-efficiency charging detection switching device thereof

Abstract

The utility model provides a kind of high-efficient charging notebook computer and its high-efficient charging detection switching device, it relates to notebook computer charging technical field, the device upgrades the linear sampling channel of two charging detection feet from traditional GPIO to ADC, real-time comparison two-way ADC value, accurately determine current effective adapter according to voltage drop difference, and immediately shut off the charging interface of having pulled out one way, realize millisecond level lossless switching.The device hardware is simple, and can be extended to two-way and above charging interface, significantly improve charging stability and user experience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of laptop charging technology, specifically to a high-efficiency charging laptop and its high-efficiency charging detection and switching device. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, with the increasing functionality and evolving interface types of consumer laptops, more and more models are equipped with two or even more charging ports, such as a combination of "DC + Type-C" or "dual Type-C". Compared to single-port models, multi-port designs not only provide users with greater flexibility but also align with the growing trend of universal fast charging protocols like USB-PD. The charging detection scheme for single-port laptops is relatively mature and stable; during charging, simply plugging in the charger allows the motherboard hardware and EC (Electronic Control Unit) to respond quickly, achieving stable charging.

[0003] However, adding an additional charging method, while allowing the addition of a mature design approach, necessitates addressing the switching and priority issues between the two methods. Individually inserting each method simplifies the charging logic. Specifically, existing dual-charger designs employ a simple detection mechanism, generally relying on the "high / low level" detection logic developed in the early single-interface era: a 3.3V high-level output from the charging IC indicates "normal operation," while a dedicated detection pin provides another 3.3V high-level signal indicating "adapter present." The embedded controller (EC) reads these two logic bits via only two GPIO pins. When both adapters are inserted simultaneously, designers typically activate one with a fixed priority.

[0004] However, in actual use, the product has different application scenarios. In complex usage scenarios, traditional charging detection solutions have significant flaws. The dual-charging design cannot achieve stable and efficient switching, leading to false charging phenomena, where the battery shows a charging icon but the charge level continues to decrease.

[0005] In view of the above, this application is hereby submitted. Utility Model Content

[0006] In the process of implementing this utility model, the inventors discovered that in complex real-world situations (e.g., two chargers charging simultaneously, or chargers being plugged in one after the other, or one charger being unplugged while charging simultaneously), at the motherboard hardware level, the simultaneous existence of multiple interfaces means that the chain problem of "detection-switching-backflow prevention" must be solved: the system needs to confirm in real time which adapter is actually in place and complete a seamless switch the moment one of them is unplugged; otherwise, a false charging phenomenon will occur where "the icon shows that it is charging, but the actual battery level continues to decrease," which seriously affects the user experience and device reliability.

[0007] The inventors further discovered that this is because, when two adapters are plugged in simultaneously, the existing dual-charger design detection mechanism typically activates one of them with a fixed priority. If the higher-priority adapter is unplugged at this time, it cannot switch to the other charging path. Since GPIO can only recognize 0V and 3.3V states, after unplugging the charger of the priority charging path, the new charging path still has a brief conducting state, causing reverse leakage from the other path that was not unplugged. The EC cannot distinguish between the "real adapter" and the "residual voltage flowing back due to the MOSFET not being turned off." As a result, the EC continues to detect that there is still a charger in the unplugged path, and thus continues to misjudge that the original adapter is still in place, causing the other path that should be switched on to fail to take over in time, ultimately resulting in a false charging phenomenon. The root cause of this defect is that the traditional solution treats "adapter in place" as a binary event, ignoring the continuous and linear voltage differences caused by residual voltage, line voltage drop, and reverse leakage from the MOSFET. It lacks the means to quantify and compare these differences, and therefore cannot perform real-time comparison and accurate judgment of the two voltages at the moment of unplugging.

[0008] This utility model discloses a high-efficiency charging laptop and its high-efficiency charging detection and switching device, which aims to solve the problem of false charging in laptop products with multiple different types of charging ports in various complex usage scenarios.

[0009] This utility model discloses a high-efficiency charging detection switching device, which includes: a controller module, a first charging detection pin, a second charging detection pin, and an ADC module configured on a laptop device. The output terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are electrically connected to the input terminal of the ADC module. The output terminal of the ADC module is electrically connected to the input terminal of the controller module. The input terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are both used for pluggable connection to an external charger interface. The ADC module is configured to convert the analog voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin into digital voltage values. The controller module is configured to compare the voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin, and to use the external charger corresponding to the charging detection pin with the larger voltage value as the current charging source.

[0010] This utility model also discloses a high-efficiency charging laptop, which includes: a laptop device body and a high-efficiency charging detection and switching device as described in any one of the above, wherein the high-efficiency charging detection and switching device is disposed on the laptop device body.

[0011] In summary, addressing the pain point of frequent false charging in laptops equipped with multiple charging ports due to the inability of traditional 0 / 3.3V GPIO detection methods to identify residual voltage, a highly efficient charging detection and switching device is proposed. This device upgrades the original high / low level detection pin to an ADC sampling channel, using a power MOSFET connected in series on each charging path as a voltage drop component. The embedded controller accurately identifies the currently active adapter by quantizing and comparing the ADC readings in real time, and immediately shuts off the corresponding MOSFET the moment any charger is unplugged, blocking backflow and achieving seamless, reliable, and scalable multi-path charging switching. The hardware only requires the addition of sampling resistors and ADC traces, making it highly versatile and significantly improving the charging stability and user experience of multi-port laptops. Compared to traditional detection and switching technologies, it offers higher accuracy and greater stability.

[0012] In short, this device upgrades the original detection switching technology in two main ways: first, it replaces high / low level detection with linear level detection, resulting in a wider detection range and higher accuracy; second, the EC adds comparison logic to the detected levels, making switching more efficient and accurate. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a high-efficiency charging detection and switching device. Detailed Implementation

[0014] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this utility model clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this utility model, not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this utility model without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this utility model. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of this utility model provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed utility model, but merely represents selected embodiments of this utility model. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this utility model without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this utility model.

[0015] The specific embodiments of this utility model are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] The traditional charging detection switching principle is as follows: When a Type-C adapter is inserted, the Type-C detection pin TCPC_P0_ADPP goes high, and the EC detection goes high, turning on the Type-C charging switch CHG_TYPEC_DEL. When a DC adapter is inserted, the DC detection pin ADP_PRESENT goes high, and the EC detection goes high, turning on the DC charging switch CHG_DC_DEL.

[0017] This traditional solution exhibits relatively stable hardware response and EC detection control when only one charger is plugged in. However, when two chargers are plugged in simultaneously and then one is unplugged, the hardware response and EC control of this circuit have defects. Specifically, when both chargers are plugged in, the charging circuits are both open. When one is unplugged, the input voltage of the other charger flows back to the unplugged charger through the previously open charging path. The EC response is not timely and fails to shut off the switch of the unplugged charger circuit in time, causing the EC to still detect a high level on the unplugged charger circuit, thus mistakenly believing that charging is still ongoing.

[0018] For this question, please refer to Figure 1 The first embodiment of this utility model discloses a high-efficiency charging detection switching device, which includes: a controller module, a first charging detection pin, a second charging detection pin, and an ADC module configured on a laptop device. The output terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are electrically connected to the input terminal of the ADC module. The output terminal of the ADC module is electrically connected to the input terminal of the controller module. The input terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are both used for pluggable connection to an external charger interface. The ADC module is configured to convert the analog voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin into digital voltage values. The controller module is configured to compare the voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin, and to use the external charger corresponding to the charging detection pin with the larger voltage value as the current charging source.

[0019] Preferably, the controller module is an embedded controller.

[0020] Preferably, the first charging detection pin is a Type-C detection pin or a DC detection pin.

[0021] Preferably, the second charging detection pin is a Type-C detection pin or a DC detection pin.

[0022] Preferably, it further includes a voltage drop component connected in the circuit between the adapter and the battery, wherein the voltage drop component includes multiple NMOS transistors and multiple PMOS transistors.

[0023] Specifically, in this embodiment, the high-efficiency charging detection switching device is integrally arranged in the power supply area of ​​the laptop motherboard. The embedded controller EC integrates an ADC module. Its ADC1 channel is connected to the TCPC_P0_ADPP pin on the Type-C port side via a precision voltage divider network, that is, the Type-C detection pin TCPC_P0_ADPP is upgraded to ADC1 detection; its ADC4 channel is connected to the ADP_PRESENT pin on the traditional DC round port side via the same voltage divider network, that is, the DC detection pin ADP_PRESENT is upgraded to ADC4 detection; both ports can be hot-swapped to external PD or DC adapters after passing through their respective ESD / overvoltage protection networks.

[0024] When any adapter is plugged in, a raw voltage of 20 V or 12 V appears at the corresponding detection pin. After voltage division, it falls within the 0 V–3.3 V range and is sent to the ADC. The ADC outputs a digital value in real time with a resolution of 1 mV. The EC samples once every millisecond, detecting the level values ​​of ADC1 and ADC4 (0V-3.3V). The two values ​​are written to the internal register in real time and compared. Based on these two conditions, the corresponding charging path is opened. The one with the higher value is identified as the current real adapter. The EC then pulls up the gate drive pin of the corresponding NMOS or PMOS, so that its Rds(on) enters the milliohm-level low resistance region, forming the main charging path. At the same time, the other MOSFET is turned off to block residual voltage backflow.

[0025] After adding linear detection and numerical comparison mechanisms, the voltage detected by the ADC on the path where the charger is present will always be higher than that on the path where the charger is absent. QP1003, QP1004, QP1005, and QP1007 in the circuit are all voltage drop components. Therefore, if the EC fails to detect and turn off the charging switch on the path where the adapter is unplugged in time, the reverse voltage value will definitely be lower than the actual adapter voltage. The MOSFET uses a back-to-back NMOS and PMOS parallel structure, ensuring high-side switching while providing approximately 50 mV of voltage drop as a margin for ADC discrimination. When the user suddenly unplugs the higher-priority path, the source-drain voltage of that MOSFET drops instantly, and the ADC reading decreases rapidly. The EC can detect the difference within two sampling cycles and immediately turn on the other MOSFET, achieving zero-interruption switching. The battery icon remains solid, and the battery level no longer drops abnormally. Because it only adds two voltage divider resistors and four power MOSFETs, no additional isolators or comparators are needed, and the motherboard area and BOM cost remain almost unchanged. At the same time, this architecture can be cascaded with a third and fourth ADC channel to meet the needs of more interfaces in the future, significantly improving the charging reliability and user experience of multi-interface laptops. Therefore, the embedded controller EC compares these two detection values ​​to accurately determine which charger is present at any given moment, and then opens the corresponding charging circuit.

[0026] In simple terms, traditional EC detection uses GPIO pins, which can only detect two voltages: 0V and 3.3V (high and low). In contrast, the optimization of this high-efficiency charging detection and switching device lies in the addition of hardware sampling circuitry and EC linear detection and numerical comparison mechanisms. This allows the EC to make more accurate judgments, achieving precise detection and efficient switching. The hardware sampling circuitry sets the sampling resistor value according to the external charger's 20V / 12V specifications. The sampled information is transmitted to the EC's ADC sampling pin, which can detect any voltage value between 0V and 3.3V, such as 0.8V, 1.3V, 2.5V, etc. If there are two charging lines, the EC needs to provide two ADC detection pins to accurately determine which line to charge from by comparing the sampled values.

[0027] In summary, the high-efficiency charging detection and switching device solves the detection and switching problem when any two different types of chargers coexist, offering high efficiency and stability. Furthermore, optimizing the EC ADC detection and judgment logic based on this principle can effectively solve the charging switching problem when three or more types of chargers coexist.

[0028] The second embodiment of this utility model provides a high-efficiency charging laptop, which includes: a laptop device body and a high-efficiency charging detection and switching device as described in any one of the above, wherein the high-efficiency charging detection and switching device is disposed on the laptop device body.

[0029] Preferably, it also includes an indicator light module, wherein the output terminal of the laptop device body is electrically connected to the input terminal of the indicator light module.

[0030] Specifically, in this embodiment, the indicator module can be an LED indicator, electrically connected to the output terminal of the laptop device. This allows the laptop device to control the LED indicator to produce corresponding light prompts when it detects an abnormal charging detection switching, such as a device malfunction or problem. For example, rapid flashing may indicate that the device is initializing, while slow flashing may indicate that the device has encountered an error. This visual prompt provides users with an intuitive way to identify and respond to system status, enhancing the user experience.

[0031] Furthermore, LED indicator lights are an ideal choice due to their low power consumption, fast response, and long lifespan. In this embodiment, the LED indicator lights are used not only to indicate the system status but also to warn the user of possible abnormalities, such as data transmission errors, system overload, or hardware failures. It should be noted that other types of indicator light modules can be used in other embodiments, which are not specifically limited here, but all of these solutions are within the protection scope of this utility model.

[0032] Preferably, it also includes a sound warning module, wherein the output terminal of the laptop device body is electrically connected to the input terminal of the sound warning module.

[0033] Specifically, in this embodiment, the sound warning module can be a buzzer, electrically connected to the output terminal of the laptop device. When the laptop device detects an abnormality in charging detection switching, such as a malfunction, it controls the buzzer to produce a corresponding sound alert. Buzzers are an ideal choice due to their simplicity, low cost, and ease of integration. In this embodiment, the buzzer is used not only to indicate the system status but also to warn the user of possible abnormalities, such as data transmission errors, system overload, or hardware failure. It should be noted that other types of sound warning modules can be used in other embodiments; this is not specifically limited here, but all such solutions are within the protection scope of this utility model.

[0034] The above are merely preferred embodiments of this utility model. The protection scope of this utility model is not limited to the above embodiments. All technical solutions that fall within the scope of this utility model's concept are protected by this utility model.

Claims

1. A high-efficiency charging detection and switching device, characterized in that, include: The controller module, first charging detection pin, second charging detection pin, and ADC module are configured on a laptop device. The output terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are electrically connected to the input terminal of the ADC module. The output terminal of the ADC module is electrically connected to the input terminal of the controller module. The input terminals of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin are both used for pluggable connection to an external charger interface. The ADC module is configured to convert the analog voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin into digital voltage values. The controller module is configured to compare the voltage values ​​of the first charging detection pin and the second charging detection pin, and to use the external charger corresponding to the charging detection pin with the larger voltage value as the current charging source.

2. The high-efficiency charging detection and switching device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The controller module is an embedded controller.

3. The high-efficiency charging detection and switching device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first charging detection pin is a Type-C detection pin or a DC detection pin.

4. The high-efficiency charging detection and switching device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second charging detection pin is a Type-C detection pin or a DC detection pin.

5. The high-efficiency charging detection and switching device according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a voltage drop component connected in the circuit between the adapter and the battery, wherein the voltage drop component includes multiple NMOS transistors and multiple PMOS transistors.

6. A high-efficiency charging laptop, characterized in that, include: The laptop device body and the high-efficiency charging detection and switching device as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the high-efficiency charging detection and switching device is disposed on the laptop device body.

7. The high-efficiency charging notebook according to claim 6, characterized in that, It also includes an indicator light module, wherein the output terminal of the laptop device body is electrically connected to the input terminal of the indicator light module.

8. The high-efficiency charging notebook according to claim 6, characterized in that, It also includes a sound warning module, wherein the output terminal of the laptop device body is electrically connected to the input terminal of the sound warning module.

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